Senior transfer looks to make a splash on Bigfork swim team

The Valkyries swim team’s newest transfer athlete is no stranger to the water, or the cold, icy winters Montana has to offer.

Senior Shelby Thompson and her family made the move from Eagle River (near Anchorage), Alaska to Bigfork last year after learning that Anchorage schools would be allowing online only learning for the 2020-21 school year and have been adapting well to their new surroundings.

“People kept telling me how icy and bad the roads are here in the winter, but I found them to be better than what I had to drive on in Alaska,” Thompson laughed. “Actually, the weather here so far has been pretty much the same as Anchorage, just with a lot more sun than the 30 minutes a day we would be getting in Alaska right about now.”

With her father taking a 16-month paid leave from his job as a pilot with Alaska Airlines, Thompson’s family decided to join her grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins in Bigfork for her senior year of high school, along with her brother Jake, a freshman. The family has enjoyed the area so much since the move, they are considering making the Flathead Valley their permanent home.

“My brother and I spent a lot of our summers here, so with everything that is going on in Alaska, we decided to make the move down here for this year. We’ve decided that we like it here much more than Alaska, so I think we are going to move here permanently this summer,” she said.

While the move allowed her to escape the online schooling restrictions in Alaska, it also allowed Thompson to enjoy one more season of what had been the focus of her life since a very young age - swimming.

Thompson, who learned to swim shortly after learning how to walk, has been swimming competitively since the second grade. She tried other sports during her junior high years, but decided to focus solely on swimming during her high school years. When COVID-19 shut down swimming in Alaska, Thompson said it was hard to be away from what she considers her second family.

“I really like the team aspect of swimming. My team has always been like a second family to me and has always been there for me when I needed them,” she said. “It’s a great community to be a part of and has brought me so many great friendships over the years.”

A sprinter and individual medley racer, Thompson brings experience to a Valkyries swim team that is coming off a 2020 season that saw the team earn medals at the state meet for the first time in program history. Thompson earned a third place finish in the 100 freestyle at the Alaska state meet in her junior year and was also second at the regional level.

Thompson will be joining her cousin Sydney Slawter in the pool for the Valkyries, but is also training and swimming with the Glacier Aquatic Team in Kalispell, leading to a hectic training schedule as she prepares for a unique season in which spectators are banned from high school meets.

“There is usually just so much going on with a big meet with a lot of adrenaline. Now, you just stand next to the pool with empty stands and silence and the butterflies you get from hearing the crowd are all gone,” she said. “It’s more like a time trial now than an actual swim meet.”

It was the effects the pandemic has had on the sport that have made Thompson reconsider her future in the sport that has defined her life for so long.

“With everything that is happening with the Coronavirus, it made me really think about whether or not I really wanted to swim in college. I wasn’t sure if it was the right fit for me, so I have decided this will be my last year of competitive swimming, she said. “It was a hard decision to make, but I think I am ready for a new start in my life. I just want to finish up my swimming career strong and make some more memories with my new friends.”

Thompson plans to attend Montana State University after graduating from high school and will pursue a degree in microbiology.

photo - Alaskan transfer student Shelby Thompson will add experience to a Valkyries swim team looking to build on last season's success. (Photo provided)